I had a blind date yesterday

He started losing me when he said that the word the came from theos (I called bull—-, looked it up in his convenient dictionary, proved that it was Anglo Saxon, showed it to him – at which point he shrugged and kept talking – on the same point, without realizing I had just destroyed his argument) but I didn’t say Cheque Please until he told me I was a poor lamb for believing humans ever walked on the moon.  He also purported to be enlightened and that he would show me everything; of course anything I said fed into his, uh, schema.  It was a tour de force, and since he was essentially harmless – it was obvious from his body language that he couldn’t hurt a fly – I let him run on until the second time he started repeating myself.  Finding myself lonely for intelligent conversation I went home and called some friends.

And for my next trick, I will include the word ’empirical’ in any future personal ads.

And now I can’t get “The Eagle has Landed” out of my head.  Murphy bless the big and little filkers.

Meditation instructions

These are not exactly meditation instructions, per se.  They are instructions about etiquette in a neo-Buddhist hall in England.  I was charmed by them, and I offer them to Sandra, further to our discussions about “How DO you get people to do what you tell them is the expected behaviour in a written communique?” (Subtext… when you own the land, and you have the right to stren-you-usly guide them towards appropriate behaviour as a result.)  Without violence or name calling or the unwelcome attentions of the local police.  Yes, it’s a poser.  I enjoyed the placid language; it’s in a voice that is rarely troubled and never upset.